


'beneath the stars came falling on our heads'

by sighingfawn



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Reference to The Gang Goes on Family Fight, Takes place after that episode, swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 07:12:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3600978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sighingfawn/pseuds/sighingfawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie and Mac find Dennis after the game show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'beneath the stars came falling on our heads'

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Season 10 Episode Five, the gang goes on philly feud or whatever the episode was called. It can be read as Mac/Charlie or just platonic everyone. Sorry for the ending and title.

                Mac turns the corner to his apartment and finds Charlie sitting outside with his back pressed against the wall next to the door, eyes closed softly and tattered green jacket draped over him.   
After a few minutes he nudges Charlie’s arm with his foot. “Dude. What are you doing?”  
Charlie scrambles in his jacket making noises of alarm, his face scrunched and his eyes wide. Mac wonders if this is how he wakes up every day, panicked and unsure of where he is.   
“Hey Mac.” His voice is higher than usual and his eyelashes are fluttering as he tries to get to his feet.   
“What are you doing out here Charlie?” Mac reaches down and grabs Charlie’s jacket untangling it from around his legs.   
Charlie’s face is flushed pink as he stands up. “Dude, Dennis wouldn’t answer the door so I sat down because I thought if I kept knocking on it he would answer or the girl he was banging would leave but it’s been a really long time.” He’s rambling and his fingers are twisting themselves together. Mac holds out his jacket and Charlie immediately takes it and shrugs it on, fingers now tugging on the sleeves.   
“How long?” Mac opens the door and before Charlie can reply Mac jogs inside. “Dennis? Dennis?”  
“Dude, what’s up?” Charlie asks as he steps through the doorway.  
                The apartment is dark and unsettlingly quiet as Charlie watches Mac call out for Dennis, opening his bedroom door wide and turning to Charlie in worry.   
A sniffling noise streams from the kitchen and Mac rushes over with Charlie a few steps behind. He stops and looks into the darkness of the kitchen.   
“Dude?” Charlie whispers, his eyes adjusting slowly.  
Mac turns and looks at him, eyes flashing in the glow of the street light from where he’s crouched on the floor next to Dennis. “He’s okay.” Dennis is pressed against one of the cabinets with his legs sprawled in front of him.  
Charlie sits down to the left of Dennis and he can see a strange blankness on his face, new and scary to Charlie.   
“It didn’t represent me.” Dennis reaches out and grabs at Charlie’s jacket, his hands tight and shaking around the fabric. “It doesn’t.”  
“I know dude, I know.” Mac answers as he reaches over and places his hands over Dennis’s, easing them off Charlie and into Dennis’s lap, keeping his own hands wrapped tight over them.  
“Everybody saw.” Dennis pushes his legs into his chest and even in the dim glow Charlie and Mac can see the change from blankness to fear on his face. “They’re going to judge me. It didn’t represent me!” His breathing is getting quicker and Charlie wants to leave, he finds the kitchen suffocating in daylight and right now it feels like a coffin, but Dennis needs him. Needs them.   
                So he reaches over and places his hand on Dennis’s knee as firmly as he can. “We’re right here dude, we’ve got you. You’re here. You’re safe.” He’s repeating some of the stuff Mac used to say in high school when he would huff too much paint thinner and not feel real. “We’re all right here Dennis.”   
He keeps whispering the words until Dennis’s breathing evens out and then Charlie falls quiet, waiting for Mac to say something.   
“I’m sorry.” Dennis speaks first. “I don’t know what happened.”  
“It’s okay.” Mac moves his arm and starts rubbing soft circles through Dennis’s hair, one hand still holding Dennis’s. “It used to happen to Charlie all the time.”  
Charlie nods in agreement even though he’s sure Dennis didn’t inhale too much paint thinner.   
“Not feeling here?” Dennis stares ahead but his head tilts into Mac’s hand.   
“Yeah dude. All the time.” Charlie thinks back to the time Mac found him in the snow a few days before Christmas one year, he can’t remember much but when he tries he recalls Mac’s worried face and the purplish tint of his hands when Mac grabbed them and pulled him into the house. “There was snow one time.” Charlie says and the words hang in the air.  
“He curled up in the snow and buried his hands. I don’t know how long he’d been out there but he was so cold Dennis, like he was shivering and his teeth wouldn’t quit knocking together dude. It was scary.”   
“Okay. That’s okay.” Dennis whispers and Charlie wonders if he’s talking to himself.   
                He can see that Mac is still carding his hand through Dennis’s hair and a new memory of the day he tried to melt into the snow appears in his mind, bright and clear. They sit on Mac’s bed, cramped and Charlie’s knees knocking insistently against Mac’s as he tries to wrap another blanket around Charlie. Mac gave up after Charlie shivered them all off and settled on pulling Charlie into him, placing him between his legs and wrapping his arms around him. Charlie remembers the feeling of Mac’s hand moving through his hair while he grounded him.   
He wonders if he ever thanked Mac for pulling him from the snow.  
                Dennis stands up first and thanks them again, muffled under something that sounds like shame. He tells them he’s going to get changed and then they’ll go down to the bar to get wasted. The distance he leaves between Charlie and Mac seems infinite in the heavy dark of the kitchen and Charlie waits until he hears Dennis’s door close before he speaks.  
“Thank you dude.” His voice is high and quick again. “For the snow. For getting me out of the snow.”   
“It’s okay Charlie.” Mac slides over and their knees bump together.   
“No really. It’s not just for then. It’s everything dude. I’d probably be dead if I didn’t have you.” He laughs a little too quickly for it to be a joke.   
Mac stays silent for a minute before standing up, towering over Charlie like he did hours ago. “Don’t say shit like that Charlie. You’re always gonna have me. And Dennis.”   
Charlie stands up and he’s so close to Mac that he can feel the heat radiating off him like he’s draped over Charlie.   
“Okay dude. Cool.” Charlie nods and they stand, quiet and almost touching, until Dennis’s door slams shut again. 


End file.
